1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and corresponding terminal for selecting an optimal travel route.
2. Discussion of the Background
Today, traffic congestion is a serious problem. Many people often spend more than an hour each day commuting back and forth to work. This is because the number of vehicles is increasing faster than the expansion of roads and traffic facilities.
Therefore, many automobile manufacturers now provide navigation systems with each automobile. In more detail, the navigation system includes a global positioning system (GPS) receiver that receives navigation messages transmitted from GPS satellites. The navigation system also includes a gyroscope, a speed sensor and a control unit that used to determine the driving status of the vehicle.
For example, the current location of the vehicle can be detected using a Dead-Reckoning process on received navigation messages. The detected current location of the vehicle is then displayed together with a map on a display unit. Therefore, the driver of the vehicle can use the navigation system determine their current position and the shortest route to a desired destination.
Further, many broadcasting networks now provide traffic information. That is, a broadcasting station broadcasts traffic information using a Transport Protocol Expert Group (TPEG) standard and a Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB) transmission standard.
However, the related art navigation system using the TPEG standard selects a travel route using a preset travel time, and does not provide a real time analysis of the traffic conditions while the vehicle is traveling. Thus, the map provided by the navigation system does not include the best route to take based on the current road conditions (e.g., congestion, weather, etc).